MadAsHell

So I know we still have the draft and DFA period to go. But I feel we're far enough along to make some predictions in this spot now. FB: Lever, May, (one of Jetta, Lockhart, Chandler) HB: Hibberd, Tomlinson, Salem C: Langdon, Petracca, Fritsch - move to a wing HF: Melksham, Weideman, Harmes FF: Hunt, B. Brown, Pickett FOLL: Gawn, Oliver, Viney INT: Brayshaw, Jackson, Rivers, 22nd man* *22nd spot is a hard one to decide who should get it. Would love to see Jones given 6 opportunities here, maybe try some of the kids like Sparrow, Jordan, Baker, Spargo or one of this years draft picks pending the opponent we're up against. And maybe if we're up against a tall opponents Petty or Tom McDonald could get a game.

In theory we should be able to cover the small forward issue with Spargo and Bedford as well as Chandler there. Fair concern about the wing though. I share them!

We had 6 Category A rookies Bennell, C. Wagner, Dunkley, Brown, Chandler and Lockhart plus one Category B Rookie, Bradtke. My reading is that we will be able to keep our senior list at 38, reduce our Category A rookies to 4 instead of 6 and keep Bradtke as 1 of a maximum two Category B rookies (previously 3).

So I reckon we might package 19 & 28 and offer them to Freo for Picks 12 & a future 3rd rounder maybe? Pick 12 might be high enough for us to get MacRae.

Have you looked at our list recently? If we don't need half backs, why on earth were we trying to reinvent Harmes as a half back this year? We have Salem & Rivers who can hold spots down for some time, though they may eventually want Rivers to move to a wing. Hibberd and Jetta are both the wrong side of 30 and that leaves us with either unproven or NQR options like Lockhart, Hore and Smith. Oh and as for disposal, since 2016 Williams lowest disposal efficiency in any season is 71%, a mark Lockhart is yet to hit in his two seasons.

In all honesty I haven't seen it anywhere outside of this site. I mentioned him after he was delisted and have seen one or two other posters mention his name in whispers. But he does make sense IMO. Seasoned 27 year old small defender/HB with a bit of pace and good kicking skills. Kind of what we need.

Ben Brown trade done early. Andrew Phillips trade done for one of our picks in the 60's. Bundle some of our picks to the Bulldogs for an upgrade to a 1st Round Pick. Word that we're committed to taking Marley Williams as a DFA. Would be happy to hear of a trade for Tom McDonald or ANB out, but will live if it doesn't happen.

I'd be shocked if we don't sign him. Only thing I can think is it's due to the uncertainty on list sizes and they probably wanted to sign up players who were being targeted by other clubs first. eg Sparrow and Hunt.

I don't know if you bothered to watch any of Egan's brief reports post the scratch matches, but it was pretty clear that he was extremely close to getting a senior game when the finger injury hit. I saw him down at Casey a few times in 2019 and liked what I saw. They were playing him mainly off half back that year, and while it didn't look like he'd be a superstar or anything, he was a very good kick and never looked rushed with ball in hand or with his decision making. Allegedly moved into the midfield this year where he's looking even better. Not super fast, but not slow either. Reminds me of Bryce Gibbs a bit actually in the way he plays.

He'll make MFC Great again!

Agree, we're certainly at a point where the saying of no one player is untradeable is true. All I was getting at is the fact Petty is contacted and has won thataward would suggest that in the unlikely event that we did trade him, we'd get something significant back you would imagine.

True, though Sparrow signed an extension only a few weeks ago and Petty (who is also contracted) won our best young player award in the B&F last year, so unless we're getting something substantial, I can't see us trading either.

I'm going to go with ANB and one of the McDonald brothers.

Not wrong. After all...

If we're looking to have Petracca play the Dustin Martin role of splitting his time between the midfield and forward line, Harmes could be the guy to interchange him with. Start each game with Harmes forward and trac in the middle. When they switch Harmes can then clamp down on an oppositions best midfielder at the time. That allows us to then have Oliver, Brayshaw and Viney rotate amongst the other two midfield spots and potentially have short shifts in the forward line also.

It was a weird list analysis. He wasn't completely wrong, but as others have said, he contradicted himself as well. Said we're good for inside mids and small forwards (noting we should continue to play Spargo), and that we're addressing our needs for tall forward and back up ruck. So the main areas he reckons we lacked were tall backs, running backs and another wing. Personally I don't agree re tall backs given we have May, Lever, Tomlinson and Petty plus Smith & Hore who could play as the number 3 or 2 at a pinch tall back. Running backs I agree is an issue with both Hibberd and Jetta on last legs, jury still out on Lockhart and that only leaving Salem & Rivers. I heard someone mention we may be into Marley Williams and I think that would be a good short term solution for 2 or 3 years while we build that area. And as for the other wing, I'm hoping we're eyeing the Bulldogs Pick 14 so we can land MacRae or Cook for that spot. That could be enough to turn the swiss cheese into a nice bree and what we need for premiership 13!

ALREADY DELISTED Bennell, Dunkley, C. Wagner, J. Wagner LIKELY TO GET DELISTED O. McDonald LIKELY TO BE TRADED Hannan, Preuss POTENTIAL TO BE TRADED T. McDonald, Jetta, Neal-Bullen

Haven't seen it reported anywhere that we've offered Oscar a contract?

I suspect we'll be giving this years 2nd rounder along with other picks (Preuss trade etc) to the Bulldogs for Pick 14.

You might be onto something here @adonskiI suspect the club is either very smart or very stupid on this one. Time will tell!

Reckon our lack of interest here to me indicates that we're well down the path with a pick/points swap with the Bulldogs to get their Pick 14 and take one of Finlay MacRae or Brayden Cook to fill the wing role.

Hoping we get him for our future 2nd round pick. Maybe offer any of Tom or Oscar McDonald, Neal-Bullen, Bedford, Jordan, Nietschke, Chandler, Mitch Brown or Lockhart as steak knives. Though ideally they'd only take one of the first three.

Have seen him a few times, and while he's no star, he ticks the boxes of what we need. As @Turnersays though, I don't know why the Bombers would let him walk? But if we can get him as a DFA or for something like a 5th round pick or in exchange for Neal-Bullen or something like that, I wouldn't say no.

No way should we give up a 2nd round pick in what will be a strong draft. They can have Jetta and our future 3rd rounder in their fire sale!

He wouldn't be a bad option. Still only 27 and has talent. Would rather we trade for Webster though.